Canada’s forestry research strategy is like a nearly completed jigsaw puzzle with most of its pieces firmly linked together leaving a few scattered spots still to be filled. Following the sector’s meltdown in the late 2000s, it has made great strides towards developing a path forward that could yield considerable benefits for the nation while reducing its environmental footprint.
Other players have also contributed to the sector’s transformation-in-progress. Natural Resources Canada and provincial governments have been strong collaborators, as have academic researchers including the genomics community. Common cause at many levels is helping to reshape a diverse industry.
Yet there’s a urgency to ensure that several key pieces of the forestry innovation ecosystem are maintained and new ones added to the mix to ensure that the sector continues to innovate to remain globally competitive. Last year’s Budget failed to renew several forestry research networks (see page 3) and a key NRCan program received only a fraction of what the industry was requesting.
That’s why the prospect of a federal government eager to demonstrate enlightened leadership in an election year bodes well for forestry R&D in Budget 2015. The research networks require immediate attention and the government should take seriously industry’s recommendation to widen the eligibility of a largely unused $500-million biofuels fund. Add just a few more pieces to the puzzle and the forestry sector’s prospects for a profitable and sustainable future will be immeasurably enhanced.
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